General Sir Archibald Hunter GCB GCVO DSO was a General in the British Army who distinguished himself during the Boer War. He was Governor of Omdurman, in Sudan, and later of Gibraltar. Early life Archibald Hunter, born a twin, was the son of a Archibald Hunter (1805, Lanarkshire, Scotland – 1868, London, England), a London businessman and Mary Jane Graham (1833, Renfrewshire, Scotland – 1905, West Kilbride, Ayrshire, Scotland). Having chosen not to follow his father’s business routes, Hunter began military education in Glasgow, and then at the Royal Military College Sandhurst. In 1875, the nineteen year old Sub Lieutenant joined King’s Own 4th Lancashire Regiment. The Mahdi Uprising Between 1884 and 1885, Hunter joined the Gordon Relief Expedition which sought to rescue Charles George Gordon (or Chinese Gordon) from his Mahdi captives. The Expedition was was, however, too late; Gordon had been killed two days before their arrival. During the time in which the Mahdi’s were being suppressed, Hunter saw much front line action. He led a brigade under the command of Major-General Grenfell in Sawakin. He was wounded on this mission. He was appointed Governor of Dongola Province in the Sudan and Commandant of the Frontier Field Force in 1895. In 1896, he joined the Anglo-Egyptian Nile Expeditionary Force under Lord Kitchener and the Sirdar (commander of the Egyptian Army). Sudan was recaptured, and Hunter was put in charge of the Egyptian division. He was made Governor of Omdurman in Sudan in 1899. The Second Boer War Between 1899 and 1901, Hunter served as General Officer Commanding 10th Division in the Second Boer War. Later life he was GOC Scottish District from 1901 to 1903. He was then GOC Western Army Corps in India from 1904 to 1907 when he became GOC Southern Army in India. From 1910 until 1913 he was Governor of Gibraltar. In 1914 he became GOC 13th (Western) Division. He served in World War I as Commander of the 3rd Army. He then went to Aldershot first as GOC Aldershot Training Centre and then as
GOC Aldershot Command. He retired in 1918. He was elected at the 1918 general election as a Coalition Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Lancaster, but stood down at the 1922 general election. Family Archibald Hunter married, in 1910, Mary Fergusson, 2nd Baroness Inverclyde (1866-1924), former wife of George Arbuthnot Burns, 2nd Baron Inverclyde (1861-1905). There was no issue from the Hunter-Fergusson marriage.